ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

Professor Belleville has played a central role in the development of ASL’s natural resources law emphasis. He coaches moot court teams at major competitions in environmental law and energy law, and has served as faculty advisor for ASL’s Natural Resources Law Journal, the Environmental Law Society, and the Energy and Mineral Law Society. Professor Belleville represented ASL in a successful Solar Pathways grant application made by a consortium of Virginia colleges to the Department of Energy seeking to facilitate the deployment of solar installations at non-profit entities. He developed and supervised a live client clinic focused on legal and regulatory work associated with solar energy deployment for colleges, communities and non-profit organizations. Professor Belleville represents ASL with the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation, serving on EMLF’s scholarship and law school committees, and regularly presenting at EMLF’s annual conferences.

Professor Belleville spent the 2015-2016 academic year as the Energy Law and Policy Teaching Fellow at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, teaching Energy Law and Policy and the Law of Renewables. He has also taught Natural Resources Law and Policy at Virginia Tech University as part of its Masters in Natural Resources program.

Before coming to ASL, Professor Belleville practiced for 10 years as a business litigator and counselor with Woods Rogers PLC in Blacksburg, Va., and Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP in Cleveland and Columbus. His litigation practice focused on commercial contract disputes, environmental litigation, business torts, labor litigation, and premises liability. On behalf of a utility client, Professor Belleville obtained the first summary judgment in Ohio in defense of a premises liability asbestos claim, and helped draft significant asbestos reform legislation. He has also successfully defended multi-million dollar enforcement actions under both the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act on behalf of municipal and industrial clients. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia.

Professor Belleville has written and given significant presentations on topics that include renewable energy law, the science of climate change for lawyers, fracking regulations, state solar energy regulation, wind energy, carbon regulation, incentives for renewable energy and efficiencies, careers in energy and mineral law, the law of climate change, protecting agribusinesses from liability, and liability issues associated with hiking trails.